January 2010

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A sale so good we almost want to keep it to ourselves

January 26, 2010 in CH&L magazine by Caroline | 1 comment

If you love HW Home as much as I do, then you’ll be thrilled to know that their 10th Annual Warehouse Sale is right around the corner. (With an enormous, but carefully selected, trove of beautiful one-of-a-kind home goods for every room in the house, what’s not to love? Plus, the company’s local, with four showrooms across the Front Range.) The sale runs from February 12th through the 15th at the former Linens-N-Things in the FlatIron Marketplace. Click here to get the scoop.

And to get you in the mood, I’m bringing back some shots (from our June/July 2009 issue) of a home designed by HW Home’s Jim Hering. Click here to read more about this home, and visit hwhome.com to start dreaming about what you’re going to bring home…

 

 

 

And now for a little Friday fun…

January 22, 2010 in CH&L magazine by Hilary | No comments

We just finished our March issue, and after all of the editing and fact-checking and obsessing about details, I need a day or two just to relish good design without worrying about all the tiny stuff that goes into making the magazine. So today, I stopped by Working Class Studio’s website for a dose of fun, whimsical home decor and stationery. Working Class Studio is a product development venture of the Savannah College of Art and Design. It promotes the work of students, faculty and alumni—and proves that artists don’t have to starve. It’s brilliant, really, to offer students insight into how to take a cool design and turn it into a profitable venture. The collection includes funky, mod-inspired square melamine plates (perfect for a summer barbecue); outdoor pillows in bold, graphic prints; contemporary acrylic table lamps; pop-culture-inspired stationery; silicone rubber clocks—the list is long. I’m crazy about the "Wrought Irony" plates (and who can resist such a clever name?)

 

 

 

And these pillows, from the Sarah Collection, are among my favorites:

 

 

You can buy Working Class Studio’s stuff online at shopscad.com (where you’ll find lots of other tempting pieces) or at the Perfect Petal in Denver and Suburban Hill in Longmont. Happy Friday!

A Bath Fit for Cinderella

January 13, 2010 in Baths, CH&L magazine, Remodeling by Hilary | 1 comment

For our March issue, which is all about remodeling, we’re working up a story about glam fixtures for three rooms of your home: the living room, kitchen and bath. The pieces we’ve found are well worth the splurge; they’re the cherries on top of better functionality, smarter space planning–you know, all of the practical reasons you undertake a remodel.

While I was digging through piles of new bath products, I discovered this: Novellini’s new Cristal Tub, which retails for $21,000. The press materials promise that it "leaves nothing to the imagination." No kidding.

The tub comes with its own integrated chrome-finished, floor-mounted faucet, and its sides are made from clear safety-glass panels.

The sad news (for those of you clamoring to add a little Italian beauty to your bathroom) is that the tub isn’t yet available through a Colorado showroom or retailer, but if you really must have it, go to novellini.com and click the "contact" button.

What do you think? Worth the splurge?

Predictions for the 2010 Antiques Market

January 12, 2010 in CH&L magazine by Hilary | No comments

We’re whipping up a guide to reproduction (or "young") antiques for our March issue, which hits newsstands on February 23. And while I was editing away last week, I got this list of predictions from Antiques Roadshow‘s appraiser Lark Mason :

1. Large D-flawless diamonds and finer quality jewelry will be strong sellers, serving as a hedge for wealthy collectors in the turbulent economy.

2. Post-war fine arts by top artists will be in great demand.

3. Lower-end collectibles won’t be great sellers, especially outside of pop and mass culture items, so look for bargains here.

4. Middle market (items under $10,000) decorative  English, American, and European furniture and decorative arts will continue to have a tough time, as this segment of the market competes against mass-market retailers offering reproductions of this material at affordable prices.

We think #4 is especially interesting, and fits just perfectly with our view that if you’ve ever been interested in collecting antiques or adding a few vintage pieces to your otherwise modern or contemporary home, now’s the time. Lower demand means better prices and a greater selection. And young antiques are a great way to enter this fascinating realm.

By the way, Antiques Roadshow made a stop in Denver last summer, and the Denver episodes air March 29, April 5 and April 12 at 7 p.m. on Rocky Mountain PBS. We sent an intrepid reporter to find out what Coloradans were schlepping to the AR taping, and we’ll publish her piece in March, but in the meantime…Did anyone out there attend the Roadshow taping and discover that you are the proud owner of a priceless gem? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

Blast from the Past–Readers Respond

January 11, 2010 in Design Trends by Hilary | 1 comment

Already we’ve gotten some comical responses to our invitation in our Jan/Feb issue to look back at the milestones and missteps in Colorado design history. Judy from Denver writes, “I grew up in Denver, and my mother was so excited about the pastel flowered wallpaper she found that she put it up everywhere: the kitchen, her bedroom, the living room, even the guest bathroom. Now that I think of it, I can’t decide if it looked like it belonged in an old folks’ home or a baby’s room. Even though I know that wallpaper is cool again, especially in those big prints, I just can’t bring myself to even consider it, after years of living with those tiny baby blue and pale pink flowers!”

And Laila from Edwards says, “Ha! I loved your reference to mirrored walls. We had a whole wall of mirrors in our living room when I was a kid…and a huge sectional sofa in a brushed mauve/purple velvet. When it was delivered, I was eight, and i remember thinking how awesome it was. I wanted to sleep on it, so my mom let me spend the night on the couch.”

We did hear from a reader, Karen, who said that she can’t believe that we’d make fun of the homes that once graced the pages of our magazine. We certainly don’t mean to offend anyone, and while we do believe good design is important–and a fascinating reflection of pop culture, politics and geography–we don’t think it hurts to have a good chuckle from time to time at trends that we’re glad are long gone. Disagree? Send me a note at hoswald@coloradohomesmag.com. I’d be happy to post your responses.

 

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